Grand dukes of Yorkshire
Home to some of the UK’s longest-serving development veterans, Yorkshire is a thriving hub for games studios. James Batchelor finds out how local firms and developer network Game Republic are keen to improve the quality of games design graduates and attract more publisher investment to the region
Representatives of Sumo Digital, Revolution Software, Just Add Water and more discussed both the benefits and disadvantages of building a business in Yorkshire at a Develop roundtable last month
DEVELOPERS HAVE BEEN coding games in Yorkshire since the early ‘80s. The region’s showcase of hits ranges from Charles Cecil’s ZX81 title 1K Chess and Gremlin Graphics’ Monty Mole series to more recent ventures such as Sumo Digital’s Sonic The Hedgehog racing titles. It’s a heritage that has inspired many of the
developers now working in Yorkshire today, some of which attended a Develop roundtable at the offices of 3volution Solicitors in Leeds. Jamie Sefton, managing director of local
network Game Republic, says: “I remember seeing Monty Mole on Look North in the early 80s. At the time, to see any computer game on TV was unheard of. And it was made in Yorkshire at the time of the miner’s strike – it was an amazing thing to see. It made me realise that games could be a mainstream thing. But I never thought it would get to where we are today.” And almost all of those ‘80s pioneers are still with us today, albeit spiritually through the newer developers. Sumo Digital, for example, was founded by 12 ex-Gremlin members, while Cecil still heads up Broken Sword creators Revolution Software. While other legends of games
development have moved on to other things, Yorkshire’s finest are still committed to games – whether they’re heading to traditional consoles or some of the newer formats. “The onset of digital has allowed that to happen,” says Insight For Hire’s Martyn Brown, best known for co-founding Yorkshire-based Worms maker Team17. “It’s been a transition
28 | NOVEMBER 2013
for the industry. Everything was packaged goods up until 2004, and then 2005 onwards digital arrived. That changed things.” Sumo Digital studio head Paul Porter adds:
“Now there are less studios around like us, but there are a lot of studios that have started and evolved doing mobile and handheld games. You couldn’t get a more diverse group of people around the table in terms of games being developed.”
There’s an awful lot of talent in York, lots of new start-ups,
good transport connections, plus access to grants and funding.
Noirin Carmody, Revolution
Even beyond the roundtable, the spectrum of games development is broad indeed. Just a few miles away is the offices of The Blast Furnace, the new Activision studio behind the mobile hit Call of Duty: Strike Team, and Rockstar Leeds, which contributed to this year’s blockbuster GTA V. It’s a hits list any region could be proud of.
A MATTER OF SKILLS Developers agree that investment from giants like Activision and Rockstar benefits Yorkshire, but it does raise an ongoing issue.
“I wonder where the staff will come from,”
says Brown. “There’s a finite limit of resources in the area. I was involved in setting up the Activision studio, and it was hard work filling that place. “Once we’d established the studio, it was
easy to get people to come up from other regions but depending on the staff you’re looking for, it has become more difficult than it used to be. It’s great to get new starters straight out of university, but getting seasoned developers is tough.” Local universities claim they are doing their best. Jacob Habgood, senior lecturer in games development at Sheffield Hallam University and former Sumo and Gremlin employee, cites the high employment rates of his graduates and argues there are more pressing concerns. “We’ve had lots of students that have gone straight into jobs at Activision, Distinctive, Sumo and so on,” he says. “But it’s always been difficult to meet the industry’s expectations in a three-year course. “I’m also concerned about the deskilling of
tools like Unity, in terms of what our students learn. Don’t get me wrong, I think you can create fantastic things with those tools, but I wonder if you can create fantastic students.” Simon Barrett, MD at indie Four Door
Lemon, agrees: “That’s the problem we see. You find less technical people that can fix problems encountered with Unity because they’ve no idea what’s going on under the hood. It’s great for producing certain types of games but we’ll end up with no tech talent
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